2013 Ford F-150 Lariat // Photo: Ford

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos

As the old marketing axiom goes, it costs a lot less to keep a customer than win a new one, and America’s Ford continues to lead in keeping its customers coming back to its showrooms.

According to the U.S.-based Polk research firm, for the fist three months of 2013, Ford continues to win back customers with a brand loyalty rate of 65.1 per cent among new vehicle owners — the best in the industry. Toyota ranked second at 58.5 per cent, with Honda coming in third spot with a 57 per cent score. Chevrolet (56.2 per cent), and Mercedes-Benz and Nissan (tied at 55.9 per cent) rounded out the top six brands.

There always has to be losers in these types of reports. And sitting at the bottom of the surveyed brands was Mazda at 37 per cent. However, that’s a 7.8 per cent improvement from Polk’s rating from the first quarter of 2012.

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos

If you’re just getting use to the idea of having to keep track of six instead of five or four gears in your car’s gearbox, you may want to stop reading this article now. More than likely, your next new vehicle will have more gears than a mechanical watch.

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos

Among the annual “big” international auto shows, stereotypically, the Los Angeles gig is about “green” cars, the Detroit circus is about “power”, the Geneva salon is about “exotics” and the New York event focuses on “traditional American luxury.” And while both Cadillac (with its new 2014 CTS) and Buick (with its refreshed Regal and LaCrosse) will be showing off new versions of their traditional American luxury sedans, the relatively fresh genre of crossovers will dominate the debuts during this week's Big Apple media days.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

The nerves of the US Secret Service were probably already on edge in preparation for President Obama's first official trip to Israel, but things got considerably worse for the advance team earlier this week. Getting the presidential limousine - nicknamed The Beast for its tank-like appearance and construction - prepped for service, apparently one of the American agents somehow filled the tank with diesel fuel rather than gasoline. In the best of times, that's a costly and time-consuming fix: if the engine hadn't been started, they could just siphon the diesel from the tank, fill with gas and be done. Otherwise, it could require expensive flushing and more to get things cleaned up properly without damaging the engine.

We're not sure how the American agent in charge wouldn't know that the limousine runs on gasoline and not diesel. And also that in most parts of the world, the diesel pump nozzles are always larger and won't fit in gasoline 'necks' to prevent this very problem.

While embarrassing for the American team on the ground, there are actually a fleet of Beasts, and one was flown in from neighbouring Jordan in time for Obama's arrival. This isn't the first time the enormous limo's caused headaches in places where a giant American car is out of place: one got high-sided during the president's visit to Ireland earlier this year. 

Here's where a little forethought might have helped: the limousines are built on General Motors commercial truck chassis before getting the customized bomb-proof 'tank' body put on top, and is ostensibly designed to mimic a Cadillac. However, you'd think that given the power, torque and reliability of modern turbo-diesels in heavy-duty applications that one of those would be used underhood. Obviously a gasoline V8 of we're assuming very large displacement is there already, and gets about eight mpg (US)... 

Would it be smart for the US to have several variations of limousine available, meaning regular ones for home and countries with larger, more open spaces, and others that are smaller and more maneuverable when visiting abroad? Let us know.

Clockwise: Chevrolet Impala, Buick Lacrosse, Cadillac XTS — They're all different ... sort of.

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos

On sale later this year, General Motors is previewing its new 2014 Chevrolet Impala in San Diego, California this week. No doubt, you’ll read forthcoming reports that the 2014 version is a much better vehicle than the out going version. Seeing how the current Impala uses a platform first seen in 1988, that shouldn’t be a stretch. But as much of an improvement the new Impala should be over the outoing model, how much different is than than other similarly packaged sedans in General Motors' lineup?

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos Canada

Just as the rest of the auto industry starts to cool on the idea of electric cars, General Motors says it’s working on a new type of electric vehicle with a range of 200 miles — or 322 kilometres. To put that in perspective, the current Chevrolet Volt’s pure-electric range is just 62-km and the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV (seen above at its world debut at last year's Los Angeles auto shwo) is expected to be able to go about 120-km between recharges.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Even though legendary Canadian racecar drivier Ron Fellows is part of the new ownership group behind Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (i.e. Mosport) just east of Toronto, he still has his name attatched to a Corvette-focused driving school South of the Border. The Ron Fellows Performance Driving School at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Nevada has been a popular stop for 'Vette owners and fans, mainly because it allows them to pilot the big-power rocketships like the 638-horsepower ZL1 without dishing out over $100K to buy one.

Obviously, Cadillac felt Fellows was the best man for the job when it decided to offer a similar program aimed at admirers of its palm-sweat-inducing 556-horsepower CTS-Vs. So the V-Series Academy offers similar experiences for high-end Caddy buyers, although with a more luxurious bent.

There are one- and two-day programs that run between $1,300 and $2,300 (US) and class sizes are limited to 12 people max. Exercises will include learning both on Spring Mountain's 6.5-kilometres of track itself and in the surrounding facilities.

This is just another example of Cadillac trying to legitimize itself in the eyes of potential customers. Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz already offer similar programs focusing on their respective performance-oriented sub-brands, so this is kind of a no-brainer.

For more information on the Cadillac V-Series Academy, click through on this link.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Last week we mentioned that the Cadillac ATS and Ram 1500 were named the North American Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year at the Detroit auto show. However, neither were named as finalists in the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada's 2013 Canadian Car and Utility of the Year during the recent Montreal International Auto Show.

Why? Well, the Ram is easy enough to explain: there were simply no other new or significantly revised pickups for 2013, and thus no pickup category during last October's AJAC Test Fest.

The ATS is more complicated because it did win its Luxury Car category against the segment-leading BMW 3 Series, something that shocked more than a few people. However, in the final tally, the ATS wasn't able to swing enough votes and was left out of the top-three.

The vehicles that are nominated as finalists are: the Honda Accord sedan, the Hyundai Elantra GT and the Porsche Boxster. The three named for Utility Vehicle are: the Ford Escape 1.6L EcoBoost and the Hyundai Santa Fe Sport 2.0T.

Perhaps having the ATS selected as a finalist for Design of the Year along with the Porsche 911 Carrera S and Boxster will help sooth Cadillac's tempers a tad.

The overall winners are set to be announced during the media preview of the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto on February 14.

What do you think? Agree or disagree with the selections? Let us know...

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos Canada

The results are in: during a press conference early in the media days of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, the North American Car and Utility of the Year awards were presented to Cadillac and Ram. The former for its ATS, which was General Motors' fifth such award, while the Ram 1500 was Chrysler Corp's third in the truck/utility category.

The ATS, with 207 points, beat out heavy favourites like the Honda Accord (159) and Ford Fusion (124), further solidifying Cadillac's efforts at producing a BMW beater. 

Meanwhile, the Ram was the only 'real' truck in the mix, and collected 261 points to beat the second-placed Honda CR-V (142) and Ford C-Max (87).

Nearly 50 journalists from Canada and the United States are polled and asked to vote on the awards, which is now into its 20th year. Last years winners were the Hyundai Elantra and Range Rover Evoque.

The ATS also gained another feather in its cap this morning by being voted as the 'Best of the Best' by the Canadian Automotive Jury, a group of 10 of Canada's most influential car journalists. The results were announced today on CTV's Canada AM and the award will be presented to Cadillac at the Montreal Auto Show's media days on Thursday. The ATS beat out the Accord, Kia Rio and Mazda CX-5 in the final tally.

Whether the ATS can pull out another win in February remains to be seen. The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada will reveal its Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year winners during the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto in about a month from now. Unfortunately, the Ram didn't participate because there weren't enough new or heavily updated pickups on the market to warrant a class this year.

What do you think? Are the ATS and Ram 1500 worthy of the selection? Let us know in the comments.

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos Canada

We’re less than one week away before the annual circus (a.k.a. "media days") comes to Detroit. And already we have a pretty good idea of what vehicles will and won’t be revealed. Some automakers may have a few surprises still hidden up their respective sleeves, but what 2013 Detroit show production or concept debuts that have already been officially — and unofficially — leaked or previewed are you most looking forward to checking out here at MSN Autos Canada next week?